A Brother's Heart
by BelinhaZpears
Summary: Bill Scully never liked Fox Mulder.


**Title: **A Brother's Heart

**Rating: **PG

**Disclaimer: **characters and places belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and to Fox Network.

**Production: **October, 2008

**Summary: **Bill Scully never liked Fox Mulder.

**Extra: **sets in episode _Deadalive_, after the teaser. Spoilers until then.

**A/N: **just because I actually like Bill Scully! Okay, he's not my favourite character and I admit he was pretty unfair to both Mulder and Scully, but he's not a monster. He seems a very dedicated and loving older brother – at least to me!

And no… this has nothing to do with incest! =P MSR all the way! Shippers, be happy! ^^

Thank you so much, Miss Petrie, beta-reader, for the work done with this fic. Because you'll never know how your words made me smile! :)

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**A BROTHER'S HEART**

Bill Scully never liked Fox Mulder. And it wasn't a quirk… it was the truth!

He wasn't exactly impressed by him the first time she had mentioned his name. The man wasn't the one to be blamed, but he was still feeling that weight of disappointment whenever he thought that his sister was no longer "the-one-who-saves-lives" but instead "the-one-who-is-allowed-to-take-lives-if-necessary". So, by that time, Fox Mulder represented every single value he despised.

Dana also used the words "paranoid" and "workaholic" to describe him, which didn't help his situation much either. And quite frankly… _Fox_?! What kind of idiot would go by the name of _Fox_?

For months, however, he went straight past him. Dana didn't even like to discuss work at home. Anyway, it was her life, her choice – he had already played his part while trying to convince her to give up on that crazy idea.

Until that summer, when he found out that his sister was missing. Some mad man had entered her home and taken her away. And that man had been caught, but she wasn't with him anymore. She came back three months later, from some unknown place, in a deep coma. She had been left in some hospital to die. The Navy had stopped Bill from being there, but on those days he had to face reality: he was about to lose his sister. Her lunatic partner and his lunatic peers had been responsible for his sister being connected to a ventilator. It was horrible to think it, but the FBI had killed his baby sister.

But that wasn't the end after all. Dana returned from eternity, stronger than ever. He visited her some days later and she told him everything. She told him that _the other_ believed and gave her strength with those beliefs; she told him that _the other_ hadn't given up until he had her back. Melissa then added that _the other_ was lost but had found his light next to her. And he didn't say a word, but nothing could shut up that tiny voice screaming inside his head: "It's his fault! It's all _the other_'s fault!"

In that moment, Bill Scully suspected that he didn't like Fox Mulder, not even a bit.

But if he only had suspicions by then, he was absolutely sure of it on that early morning when he received the news that Melissa, his darling sister Melissa, had passed away after such a hard struggle for life. She hadn't been the first close family member that he had lost to Death, it was a fact; but, even if he found it so hard to admit, dad surely had an advanced age – he didn't live it all, but he had known much of life. Melissa didn't.

In short, his father was gone because his heart got tired of beating. Melissa was gone because someone had pulled the trigger on her.

At the funeral, Dana had cried and blamed herself. She had said that it wasn't fair, that she should be the one in that casket, that the bullet was meant for her. Bill didn't want to listen. Instead, he tried to open her eyes: he screamed, he yelled, he lost his head while trying to convince her to quit. "Leave that job, Dana, get away from that man before he finishes you off too!" But she said no, he was wrong: she said that she would continue her work at the FBI, that she wouldn't leave her partner, she owed him her loyalty, she needed to avenge Melissa.

And when he looked her in the eye, his biggest nightmare came true: that woman was no longer the same Dana Scully he had once known.

In that moment, Bill Scully found out that he loathed Fox Mulder.

Months went by and when he thought that life was following a good pace a new tragedy hit the family. He could barely believe that something like that was happening to them, but when he reached the hospital and saw her like that, so small in her bed, he knew it was true. Dana, his little Dana, was sick. Brain cancer. An aggressive therapy against the greatest of evils. All they could do was wait in order to see what destiny had chosen for them.

And then he discovered the background story. He discovered that her cancer was a consequence of that kidnapping, the same he tried so hard, in vain, to forget. Once again, the FBI was involved. The X-Files were involved. _The other_ was involved.

He ended up meeting him that time. When Dana reached the terminal phase, he was there next to her. He saw him sitting on her bed, holding her hand, and felt an unexplainable rage running through his chest. How dare he? Wasn't it enough giving her that disease, did he actually need to come after her to annoy her with his problems? "_Sorry son of a bitch_" was the nicest thing he wanted to call him. That man not only had destroyed his sister but also came along with crazy ideas and false hopes to save her life.

And she believed… After everything that had happened, she put that thing in her neck and hoped. Deep inside, he knew that she believed him.

In that moment, Bill Scully understood that he hated Fox Mulder.

In a way, they were ready. They accepted that no miracle would happen, said their goodbyes and waited for the inevitable. But it never came! One day, Dana woke up and informed them that she was feeling better. The doctor mentioned spontaneous remission; but he looked at _the other_ and easily saw that he didn't believe. "Yes, of course, a chip inserted in her neck is such a better explanation!" His sister had never wanted to discuss the real motive behind her recuperation, but Bill knew it was only a way for her not to admit that she trusted his intentions and his methods. That she, always so smart and rational, had been blinded by him.

That Christmas, he discovered why.

He had hated to be forced to have him as a guest in his home, especially at such a time of the year. But mom had insisted and he had to agree. Because Dana needed help and he was the only one who could help her, those had been her words. The entire story about that little girl was a shock to all of them and, for the first time, Bill had to admit it: what kind of logical reason could give them answers about the fact that his sister had a daughter without ever being pregnant?

They never knew, but he observed them for various times during those days. He had noticed the way they looked at each other, the way their hands touched each other, how they felt comfortable with each other. When no one else was around, the world belonged to them. He saw them studying the case on his own living room, he saw them watching over Emily at the hospital, he saw them together at the funeral… and the world was theirs, just theirs…

In that moment, Bill Scully feared that his sister was falling in love with Fox Mulder.

He had tried to discuss it with his mother, but Maggie advised him to stay out of his sister's life. He had tried to discuss it with his wife, but Tara argued that her sister-in-law deserved to be happy. Happy?! How could she ever be happy with him? A man so lost in life that he had to drag her with him to his own misery, a man who had cost her her health and her joy, who had ruined her reputation at work… how could she ever be happy with someone who had taken almost everything she had in life?

He had known lots of examples of that kind of guy. They played the pitiful part, "nobody-likes-me-but-I'm-such-a-nice-person", and took advantage of those who had the sensibility to look at them twice. Dana could be intelligent, but then there were also those times when she kept thinking with her heart instead of her head. Now he was going to use her, to suck her dry, to steal everything she had tried so hard to keep with her and, once satisfied, he would throw her away like a candy paper.

Because of that, Bill Scully knew that there was no one he could hate more than Fox Mulder.

Anticipating his sister's future turned out to be a weight he had to carry on his shoulders everyday. And one day, some months ago, time wore out and the bomb exploded when he least expected it to. He had practically choked on himself when mom told him that she was pregnant. Noticing his silence, Maggie had told him too that she was very happy after everything she had been through to be a mother. And yes, Bill knew that she had been waiting for that chance for a long time, but it didn't change things! Dana, his little sister Dana, was expecting a baby. _The other_'s baby. Mom hadn't said a word about it, but everything in him was telling him that _the other_ was the father.

He couldn't even wait to meet her first. By the time he realized what he was doing, he was already at the FBI, asking to speak to him. It wasn't a surprise when they told him he couldn't. "Agent Mulder is not here at the moment." But while leaving the building he heard the rumours that circulated in whispers. They were claiming that he was missing, that he was mentally sick, that he had run away to an uncertain place.

Furious, he drove to his sister's house and ended up fighting with her. She had always been such an intelligent woman, how could she have been so stupid? Why did she have to listen to his delusions? Now, here they had the result: she was pregnant and alone, happy maybe, but still _alone_! "Do you know how much it costs you to have a child, Dana?", he had yelled in that morning, "Do you know how hard it's going to be to have a baby by yourself?" He told her horrible things about him and she lost her head, told him that he didn't know a thing and ended up asking him to leave. She was hurt and Bill knew it. He was too proud to admit that he was pissed off in that moment, though. So he left, throwing the door and abandoning her apartment.

And for the next days and weeks he felt an urgent need to pick up the phone and talk to her, telling her that he was sorry, that he was mad with _the other_, not with her, that he wanted to know how she and the baby were. He never did it.

A week ago, the telephone rang. On the other side he heard his mother's teary voice. She told him that she knew about the fight between him and Dana but his sister needed him, she needed them all. Because _the other_ had been returned and _the other_ was dead. Possibly, he had been dead since he went missing. Their FBI boss was saying that Dana had seen his state, she knew he had suffered too much. She was desperate, which wasn't good for the baby. "I know you said terrible things to each other, Bill!", Maggie talked through her tears, "But she needs you, my son. She needs all of us in this difficult moment."

In that night, he left Tara and Matthew alone at home and drove to her place. Once she opened the door to him, words weren't needed. They hugged and she cried. She cried like he had never seen her cry before. Right then, Bill found out that _the other_ might not be a prince charming, but Dana loved him and it was all that mattered for her; now that he was gone, there was nothing left. Only that miracle, for which no one had found an explanation yet, the last memory of what they had lived together.

He embraced his sister against him, caressed her face, kissed the top of her head. "I'm here, Dana. I'll always be here!" And they both knew it was true.

That's why he came to the cemetery today. He came alone, without a warning, almost like a clandestine. Only _he_ would know about this visit. Next to his grave, Bill thought about everything that had happened since Dana had been working with him. Every hurt, every damage, every hopelessness. She had faced the most terrible obstacles, but never, and it was really _never_, had she cried as hard as she did now. She had lived and survived the most difficult moments, but never lost that little glimpse of hope in her eyes… like now.

Bill still doesn't like him – he faced too much for such a sudden change of heart – but his death changed a lot of things. He couldn't just turn away. And because of that, without words, he opened his heart and made him a promise. He promised to look after her and the baby, to take care of that child as his own, to make sure that they would always be safe from the world. And deep down inside, even though it was so hard to him, he promised to try to understand him, to understand his reasons and his motives, to understand what he and Dana had shared through those last years. It was his only way to find peace with the man his sister loved so dearly… and with himself.

Because Bill Scully never liked Fox Mulder. But Bill loved Dana with all his heart.

And sometimes that was enough!

**THE END**

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**In loving memory of Kim Manners. You'll be missed!**


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